Unified Communications Platform

Microsoft has released its new unified communication platform. Microsoft joined hand with Nortel and other VoIP giants in 2006 to create a platform based on Microsoft technologies for providing users a single interface for meeting collaboration challenges. Microsoft vision is to provide its customers a platform to communicate with their team member, partners and vendors without geographical limitation. Major components of this platform are Microsoft live communication server 2007, Microsoft office communicator 2007, Microsoft Speech server, Microsoft Live meeting, Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and Microsoft SharePoint portal 2007 and other partner products for different functions. A user using this platform is able to place call or initiate a video conference with their partners or peers connecting from any communication device and from any geographic location. Now if you don’t have PC but have phone, you can still check your email by dialing Microsoft exchange server and hear your emails. People can leave voice messages for you while you are offline or away and you can get these voice messages directly in your inbox. Microsoft partners had already created some powerful applications based on this platform focusing on specific business needs such as managing human capital, Customer service excellence, Collaboration between remote offices in real-time manner and many other needs. For further details, following is the link http://www.microsoft.com/uc/default.mspx

Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Scalability Project - Server Consolidation

Following link contains the description of the test which Microsoft has conducted for finding out the optimized SQL server 2000 configuration for more then 500 databases hosted in ASP (application service provider) environment. Interested part is the architecture of PACE a financial software from Microsoft bCentral™ for medium business which create a new database for every customer. Which according to Microsoft is not a traditional application architecture and advocating that this architecture is suitable for maximize data security check it out http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnsql2k/html/sql_asphosting.asp

Time's Person of the Year

Findout who is Time's Person of the Year ;) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1569514,00.html

WSS 3.0-Feature FrameWork

Microsoft WSS 3.0 is a new and totally revamped version of WSS 2.0 contains number of new enhancement one of which is "New feature framework". So what is New feature fame work well according to Microsoft it is the new model for defining templates for Windows SharePoint Services sites. It helps you to define lists and other features, such as menu items, by including sub folders in the site definition structure Developing site definitions by implementing features gives us a greater degree of control, flexibility, and reusability than the site definition model for previous versions of Windows SharePoint Services. Previously each list definition was defined inside the context of a single site definition. In Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, each list definition can have its own feature. Features also offer a modular approach because they do not define the entire blueprint for a site. The feature framework also improves the manageability of Windows SharePoint Services sites. In Previous version there is no mechanisms present for modifying site definitions and then applying those changes to existing sites. Now in new version features can be activated or deactivated on an existing site. For example, you can create a feature that defines a custom list type, an instance of that list type, and an event handler or a workflow on that list instance. After the feature has been installed on the server or Web farm, it can be activated in any site. Feature activation can be done from following ways:

• By Windows SharePoint Services user interface.
• By command line.
• Writing custom code by using Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 object model.

If a site no longer requires a specific feature, it can be deactivated.

After reading this you will be thinking that what is feature in terms of WSS.3.0. Well according to Microsoft a feature is a set of elements that help a user to accomplish a particular goal or task. For example, you can create a feature called My Favorite Links that is used to store a list of links on a per-user basis. The feature might include:

• A custom list for storing the links.
• A custom menu item, labeled Add to Favorites, that is attached to the menus of all links in the site. When clicked, the menu item will add the link to the favorites list.
• A Web Part that renders the user’s top 10 favorite links, based on usage and link tracking.

Each of these pieces of functionality is an element. Elements are not typically useful on their own, but they are packaged together to form a useful feature that adds functionality to a Windows SharePoint Services site.

You can create features for any of the following levels in the Windows SharePoint Services hierarchy:

• Web Application
• Farm
• Site Collection
• Site

SQL 2005 - Max Worker threads enhancement

One of the great enhancement in SQL 2005 is its automatic worker threads adjustment. In SQL 2000 it is by default adjust to 255. Increment in this figure without proper testing will always result in degradation of SQL performance. A fresh installation of SQL 2005 initates it by 0 and adjust it according to system load and usage. One thing to remember that in case of upgrading, SQL 2005 will get the max work thread number from previous version which have to reinitialize to 0 for better performance.

Vista security holes

Recently i heard about vista security, related to this i found a very good article discussing possible hacking attacks on vista in the future. According to this research a major component of vista so called PatchGuard, or kernel patch protection will face the heat from the hackers. check it out http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189,39285083,00.htm

Comparison between WSS 2.0 and 3.0

Document for finding comparison between WSS 2.0 and WSS 3.0. http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/f/2/2f292511-8865-43ce-a241-5a4cc6dbfd03/WSSVersions.doc

R&D

Now a days i am working on sharepoint 2003 migration to Microsoft office 2007. Microsoft has greatly enhanced its office server suite and create an enrich and truly enterprise suite for the new office platform. New suite contains following products:

1. MS Sharepoint 2007.
2. MS Project Server 2007
3. MS Project portfolio server.
4. MS Groove Server.
5. MS Live Communication server 2007 (Not Yet Released).
6. MS presentation point server

Addition to this WSS 3.0 (platform behind sps 2007) is also there which is not part of MOSS 2007 but is essential for SPS 2007.

Some other new products mostly related to BI was also released which is not directly related to MOSS but will complement it.

There are some very good documentation available on most of the products like sps2007 and WSS 3.0 but not enough documentation is present on some products like Project 2007 server, Groove and Project portfolio server. My R&D is currently going on and will post useful materials as soon as i find them

SQL server common Q/A

SQL server common Q/A http://www.microsoft.com/technet/technetmag/issues/2005/01/SQLQA/?related=y

TechGuru competition

Microsoft has launched a TechGuru competition. A great oppprtunity for winning very attractive prizes. last date for contest is January 31st, 2007. following is the link. http://www.microsoft.com/gulf/techguru

Normalization techniques

Normalization techniques (Book Excerpt) http://www.sql-server-performance.com/ld_sample_chapter/bookframe.asp

Maximizing .Net performance

Maximizing .Net performance (Book excerpt) http://www.sql-server-performance.com/book_excerpts/max_net_perf_chapter_15.pdf

SQL Server 2000 Performance Tunning

found some good SQL Server Performance Tuning Tips following is the link http://www.sql-server-performance.com/misc_tips.asp Also an book excerpt http://www.sql-server-performance.com/book_excerpts/4215_Ch01_FINAL.pdf

SQL Server DBCC commands

found some very useful SQL Server DBCC Commands , these commands will help in optimizing and maintaining SQL server 2000 following is the link http://www.sql-server-performance.com/dbcc_commands.asp

My first blog

At last i got time to create my blog space. I am trying this for the past 3 months but not able to do so because of the immense work pressure and tight delivery schedules. Now i will try to post some articles and my activities. Lets hope i will get enough time ;)